Number of volunteer students at the UAB increases by 33%
Almost 300 UAB students participated in volunteer programmes in prisons, hospitals, schools or on campus in the 2021-2022 academic year, representing a 33% increase on the previous year and a number that is close to the pre-pandemic figure. The Fundació Autònoma Solidària (FAS) manages the UAB's ten volunteering programmes, one of the broadest and most diverse among all Catalan universities.
20/10/2022
"The image of young people not caring about anything isn't true; there are loads who become role models and agents of social change”, says Mireia Ruiz, FAS volunteering officer
The UAB's social actions and its commitment to people in vulnerable situations are, in large part, due to the creation of social and volunteering programmes. These programmes managed by the Fundació Autònoma Solidària (FAS) were taken by 296 students in the last academic year (2021-2022), of whom 237 were women, 57 were men and 2 were of other genders. Most of these 296 volunteers were between 18 and 20 years of age (138), followed by those between 21 and 25 (100), while the rest were over 25. The year before (2020-2021) there were 197 student volunteers.
The biggest participation was in the Justice programme (in penitentiary and juvenile justice centres), with 70 volunteers, followed by Social Health (in hospitals), with 46 volunteers, Refugee Hosting, with 34 volunteers, Social Education (at schools), with 29 volunteers, and Environment (on campus), with 23 volunteers, as well as other programmes. One important new programme has been the one called Entre Joves (Between Young People), one of the few such university volunteering programmes, with 11 volunteers, which focuses on care for young migrants.
More than 5,000 participants
Volunteering is not the only way to get involved: last year, 5,074 members of the UAB community (students, administrative and service staff and teaching and research staff) participated in awareness, training or academic activities organised by the FAS on issues such as human rights, migration, the environment, peace, global justice and health.
Transformative role
At the UAB, volunteering "has a transformative role, and goes beyond the skills that students can acquire in class” —says one of the managers of volunteering at the UAB, Mireia Ruiz—“It means that the students acquire other values that help them become critical and engaged citizens and professionals.” Potential volunteers need to take preliminary training coordinated by the Fundació Autònoma Solidària (FAS), which involves workshops, group activities, and so on. "Thanks to this training and the hours they dedicate to volunteering itself, they learn in a different way and acquire skills that aren't learned in the classroom. All this is appreciated later on when they start looking for work", says Mireia Ruiz.
“Getting out of the comfort zone" among young migrants and refugees
Different volunteering programmes at the UAB work with the mentoring methodology. This is the case of the Entre Joves (Between Young People) programme, aimed at recently arrived migrant children, and the Refugee Hosting Programme. Mentoring creates bonds and students become positive role models who can be trusted. It also provides the volunteer mentors with the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of possibly more distant or unknown social realities.
For volunteer Àxel Cortés, a Neurosciences degree student, "it's a way to get out of your comfort zone. You meet someone who comes from a different context to yours and you end up establishing a relationship where you learn from each other, and this is very enriching." "In the end you realize that they're just young people like us, and that they're not so different from us either. They are the same age, and have the same hopes and dreams", he argues.
Volunteering in prisons
Another of the programmes that attracts the most students is the Justice programme, which is run in adult penitentiary centres (Brians I, Brians II, Quatre Camins and Puig de les Basses) and at juvenile centres (Oriol Badia and Folch i Torres). Volunteers do academic and social work activities to foster the social integration and reintegration of people who have been deprived of their freedom. "Perhaps it's the most popular programme because, otherwise, it's a world that's difficult to get into or close to," explains Mireia Ruiz from the FAS. "Students encounter a great opportunity to grow on a personal level, it's a life experience that they won't forget."
A dozen volunteer programmes
This 2022-2023 academic year, the UAB is offering ten programmes with activities that work on the environment, health promotion, equal opportunities, school success, and the rights of migrants and refugees:
-Hosting/refugees: to contribute to the full inclusion of asylum seekers through social mentoring actions and participation in awareness campaigns on campus. Further information
-Justice: to help break the feeling of isolation and foster the social reintegration of people who have been deprived of their freedom, while doing academic, social and cultural activities in penitentiary centres or juvenile justice schools. Further information
-Environment: to build a more sustainable and environmentally responsible university, activities are proposed and developed on campus or virtually in relation to nature, the environment and sustainability. Further information
-Support for students with special needs: to assist classmates with functional diversity. This might mean taking notes, revising for exams or support with practical work. Further information
-Health: to act as a health agent at the UAB and take part in workshops to be able to offer information to other students on sexual and personal relationships, drugs or sexual health. Further information
-Social health-hospital care: to accompany people in hospital and help to improve their quality of life, while supporting the psychological, emotional and affective recovery of children admitted to the Hospital de la Vall d'Hebron. Further information
-CROMA 2.0 - primary social and educational: to run education workshops for disadvantaged children using thematic projects designed by UAB research teams and in association with other university students. Further information
-Let's Talk - secondary social and educational: to accompany and support secondary school students to improve their oral communication skills in English. Further information
-Mentoring with secondary schoolchildren: to be mentors for and foster the educational success of secondary schoolchildren in situations of social and economic vulnerability and who are disillusioned with the early years of secondary school, to encourage them to continue in compulsory education. Further information
-Entre Joves (Between Young People): to be part of Entre Joves mentoring and group activities with young unaccompanied migrants, while participating in awareness-raising and motivational actions for a more inclusive and critical society. Further information.
FURTHER INFORMATION: UAB VOLUNTEER PROGRAMMES 2022-202